Known in the art is a sensor for heart valve prostheses (WO 2016/028583, Feb. 25, 2016). The disclosed sensor is a separate implantable in the heart device being a frame body with sensing elements coupled to it.
Known in the art also a device for monitoring the heart valve performance, the device being an elongate tube connected to the left ventricle of the heart. A blood pressure sensor is attached to the tube (WO 2017/136733, Aug. 10, 2017). The disclosed sensor is a separate implantable device/unit.
Known in the art a device for monitoring physiological parameters of the human body implanted in vivo with various sensors (US 2017086683, Mar. 30, 2017).
In all of the above mentioned devices, their sensors are separate implantable articles, which do not substitute any native body organs and do not fulfill functions of any organs. The shortcoming/imperfection of such devices is that during the entire period of operation their sensor is washed by blood flow, which imposes special requirements on choosing the proper materials for sensor manufacturing and demands additional research assessment of compatibility of these materials with blood and human body tissues. Besides, there are appearing problems of blood clots agglomeration along the parts/components of the implanted devices, which may result in thrombosis, blood vessels occlusion and a patient's death.
The term “sensor” used in the present application may include, without limitation, electrical, temperature, mechanical, acoustical, magnetic, optical sensors and combinations thereof. An example of a combined sensor is the ultrasonic piezo transducer/emitter (electromechanical sensor or electroacoustic sensor depending on the usage variant).
Functionally, the implanted devices may have mechanisms of wireless power supply and wireless communication with the external devices including necessary antenna devices.